Hervé Léger by Max Azria Fall 2015
While BCBG Max Azria took a detour to the continent for fall, the designer’s work for Hervé Léger took a more specific slant. Where Barcelona’s spirit, style and sumptuous colors inspired the layered looks and bohemian-tinged dresses that walked at BCBG, it’s harder to give bandage dresses and body con the same multi-layered gauzes and hand painted details. So instead of focusing on Barcelona itself, Azria focused his well-trained eye on the work of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí. Known for twisting, almost melting effects, bold colors and unexpected shapes, his buildings dot the city and give a modern and magical touch to a city rooted in tradition and history.
Lubov Azria settled on the Gaudí’s La Sagrada Família cathedral. Her mood board was plastered with details such as the frogs and birds she photographed in macro detail as well as the Art Nouveau details that make Gaudí’s work a standout for fans of architecture as well as fashion. Lubov translated those details right onto Hervé Léger’s iconic body-hugging silhouette, adding softness and cerebral intricacies to a label known for sizzling sex on stilettos.
Hervé Léger by Max Azria Fall 2015
The ceiling of La Sagrada was translated onto dresses as well as the building’s back façade. But it wasn’t just the cocktail dresses that got the Gaudí touch. There were matador’s jackets (which also made a brief appearance at BCBG) and long shearlings that seemed slightly out of place on the runway, but were perfectly covetable when removed from it sexy Spanish counterparts. And while it’s hard to layer under a second skin bandage dress, Lubov showed a few t-shirts (skintight, naturally) under key pieces just in case a certain customer wanted to be a little more demure.
Each season, editors and customers alike wait to see just how Lubov and her team will transform the house signatures at Hervé Léger, and season after season, the line evolves unexpectedly. While some might have dismissed the line as a standby for women of a certain ilk, the brand’s timeline and huge portfolio of pieces that eschew the sex and skin show that there’s plenty of staying power in the bandage dress. And with a certain set of films bringing bondage and binding to the forefront, we wouldn’t be surprised to see a renewed interest in the line and its standby harnesses, belts and sky-high strappy heels.
Images courtesy Elle
